RainyDay Man
by Phi-chama
Summary: On a grey drizzly day, Taichi unexpectedly finds himself playing Cupid.... [Complete] [Daiken]


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AUTHOR'S NOTES: My attempt at the clichéd-but-still-fun "Daisuke   
Seeks Outside Help with His Attraction to Ken" plotline. I hope you   
enjoy anyway. ^__^ My first COMPLETED Daiken - I ~do~ have about five   
more in the works. Gah. Reviews are warmly welcomed but not desperately   
and hopelessly craved. ^__~  
P.S. While the Japanese language does have the needed ambiguity,   
darn English does not have a genderless third-person singular pronoun   
that can be adequately used for a human being. [How many times have you   
called a full-grown person an "it"?] Hence the use of "they" in   
Daisuke's speech, since I couldn't very well write the dialogue in   
Japanese.  
  
PAIRINGS: Daisuke/Ken  
ARCHIVED: If you want it, just send me the URL of your site.  
Otherwise, it will be available at http://aurabuster.net/fics/ and  
http://www.fanfiction.net/profile.php?userid=147503  
WARNINGS: Waffling Daisuke, Clever Taichi, Happy Ken, and   
shounen-ai gooey-ness. Light cussing. Not beta-read.  
  
Usual disclaimers apply.  
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Rainy-Day Man  
by Phi [ juki@aurabuster.net | http://aurabuster.net ]  
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When the doorbell rang for the fifth time that day, Taichi was   
somewhere between confusion and annoyance. He never got this many   
visitors -- not even on his birthday, which, come to think of it,   
annoyed him greatly because a birthday was a very special occurrence   
and the people close to you were supposed to acknowledge that,   
goddammit.  
  
Oh well, he told himself. Nothing he could do about it now. But  
still he made a mental note to start bugging Hikari about throwing him   
a much-deserved birthday bash.  
  
Taichi continued to grumble under his breath as he made his way   
to the offending door. Was he ~ever~ going to get his work done today?   
Those International Relations courses were hard, and he still had to   
start brainstorming topics for two term papers! Taichi sullenly wished   
that his roommate was home to ward off all these impromptu and unwanted   
visitors, and then promptly turned on himself for being so rude.   
Besides, it wasn't like he ~wanted~ to do the reading, and at least   
this way he had a viable excuse for his procrastinating tendencies.  
  
When he finally opened the door, he was only somewhat surprised  
to see Daisuke there, slightly soaked from the day's drizzle and   
grinning sheepishly. "Hey, Taichi-senpai."  
  
"Daisuke!" Taichi exclaimed a little louder than necessary, but   
the other boy didn't seem to notice. "This is a bit unusual. What are   
you doing here?"  
  
"Umm...." The boy looked down at his feet as he nervously   
shifted from foot to foot. "Can I... uh, talk to you for a few   
minutes?" Without waiting for an answer, Daisuke sped on, "I promise I   
won't take that long and it's really, really important and I just   
~have~ to talk to somebody ~now~--"  
  
"Whoa, whoa!" Taichi laughed and held up his hands in   
surrender. "Okay, it's not a problem. Come on in, and I'll get you a   
towel."  
  
"Thanks a lot," Daisuke said gratefully. "I'll try to be quick,  
I promise."  
  
"Daisuke, trust me, it's no problem. I'd much rather talk to   
you than read about the African Diaspora."  
  
"Huh?"  
  
Taichi laughed again and just shook his head. "Never mind. Go   
ahead and sit down -- I'll be back in a sec."  
  
After setting down his book-bag and slipping off his shoes in   
the entryway, Daisuke padded over to the apartment's only couch and   
proceeded to slump with the refined grace of one who'd had many years   
of practice. When Taichi returned, he found the boy idly fiddling with   
a loose strand of thread at the edge his shirt, looking utterly   
dejected.  
  
"Okay kiddo, spill."  
  
"Huh?" Daisuke looked up in confusion, causing Taichi to sigh   
as he draped the towel over his head.  
  
"You said you wanted to talk, so…."  
  
Daisuke swallowed nervously and returned his gaze to the thread   
currently wrapped around his left forefinger. "Oh, yeah... um...  
well...."  
  
Several moments of silence ensued as Daisuke apparently   
attempted to screw up the courage to tell his idol whatever it was that   
was bothering him so badly. Taichi decided to take pity on him and   
asked instead, "Why're you so wet? Didn't you bring an umbrella?"  
  
Frowning, Daisuke continued to pull the wayward thread from its   
stitches. He now had several centimeters to work with. "Mom forgot to   
tell me the weather report this morning, so I didn't know that it was   
going to rain. Nobody at school had an extra umbrella, and I came   
straight here after practice." He raised his gaze to find Taichi   
looking at him oddly. "It wasn't raining that hard, I'm fine."  
  
"~You~ may be," Taichi dryly noted, "but I think my couch may   
have a few choice words. So either get up and drip over by the door, or   
sit on that towel."  
  
"Oh, yeah, right," Daisuke half-smiled as he stood and arranged  
the towel over the noticeable wet-spot where his body had been. "Sorry."  
  
"It's okay -- I'll just know who to bill when my couch starts   
growing mold."  
  
"Senpai!"  
  
"Joke, joke! Man, you're acting pretty strange today, Dai." As   
soon as the words slipped out, Daisuke wilted visibly. "Did something   
happen to you?"  
  
Another heavy silence descended as Daisuke sat back down on the  
couch, this time leaning forward with his forearms resting on his   
knees. "... Yeah. Sort of."  
  
"Is that what you wanted to talk about?"  
  
"Yeah."  
  
Taichi suppressed the urge to roll his eyes -- he swore,   
sometimes it was like pulling teeth with Daisuke. The kid could take   
forever to get to the point. "Soooo..." he prompted.  
  
"Uh... well... you see," Daisuke stammered, clasping and   
unclasping his hands as he stared with a fanatical determination at the   
room's off-orange carpeting. Suddenly he took a deep breath, closed his   
eyes, and exhaled sharply. "There's this person that I like. Like,   
~like~ like."  
  
There. Finally out in the open. Daisuke relaxed, all the   
tension draining from his shoulders, the hardest step over and done.  
  
Nodding, Taichi asked, "So what's the problem?"  
  
The boy groaned and threw himself back against the couch,   
flinging his hands up in despair. "Everything!"  
  
"I think you're going to have to be a little more specific,   
Dai."  
  
"I know, I know… it's just so hard to ~begin~...."  
  
"Well..." Taichi scratched his scalp, the part that always   
bothered him, right behind his left ear. "Tell me what this person is   
like."  
  
Daisuke's eyes literally lit up as his mouth formed a small   
smile. "They're perfect... nice, and kind, and beautiful, and really   
smart. I just feel... warm and happy whenever they're near me, or when   
I think about them. And then I get all nervous and tongue-tied because   
I don't want to say something stupid, you know?"  
  
"I take it you haven't said anything to them?" Taichi was   
having a hard time holding back the knowing smirk that threatened to   
break out on his face.  
  
"No! I can't!" Daisuke looked as close to terrified as the boy   
ever got.  
  
"Why not?"  
  
Another pause in the conversation as Daisuke looked everywhere   
but at Taichi and folded his arms over his chest protectively. "I   
just... can't. I don't know how they would react."  
  
"Daisuke, I seriously doubt that Ken would react in a way that   
you didn't want him to."  
  
The stunned silence that followed was confirmation enough for   
Taichi. He let that grin slip through.  
  
Daisuke was busy gasping for words, his jaw opening and closing   
like a dying fish. "How -- how did you know!?"  
  
"You just told me." Chuckling at the other's expression, he   
elaborated, "It was pretty obvious, Daisuke. First, if you were still   
crushing on Hikari, you certainly wouldn't come to ~me~ for advice, so   
that rules her out. Then, you start playing the pronoun game and never   
specify this certain person's gender, which could only make me think   
that it was another boy and you were afraid about how I'd react. And   
then, knowing you, it would have to a guy that you spent a lot of time   
with, leaving Takeru or Ken." Taichi shrugged at Daisuke's partially   
glazed face. "Plus, you usually go to Ken with your problems. Since   
you've come to me, it probably means that the problem itself is with   
Ken." He did not add the fact that Daisuke shamelessly flirted with Ken  
and found countless excuses to touch him -- apparently all   
subconsciously. Frankly, before today, Taichi thought that those two   
were already together.  
  
When Daisuke was not forthcoming, he plowed on, "So why me? Do   
you want my approval or something?"  
  
"No... maybe, I guess...." Daisuke looked up with the biggest   
puppy-dog eyes Taichi had ever seen outside of a digimon. "What should   
I do, senpai? I don't ~want~ to be gay, but I really like Ken...."  
  
Taichi realized that this would require some delicacy, and once   
again he found himself wishing that his roommate were home to handle   
this. He didn't exactly have the best track record with romance. "Look   
at it this way, Dai. Are you attracted to me at all?" He watched   
Daisuke shake his head slowly. "Yamato? Koushirou? Jyou? Takeru? Iori?   
Any random hot guy on the street?" He almost laughed as Daisuke pulled   
a disgusted face at the last few suggestions. "So it's just Ken?"  
  
The boy nodded. "I thought that maybe it was just a side-effect  
of the Jogress thing... y'know, that warm feeling whenever he was   
around...." Daisuke sighed and slumped further into the sofa, his chin   
now resting on his chest. "But then nothing was going on with you and   
Yamato-senpai, or Hikari-chan and Miyako, so...." He scrubbed his palms  
through his hair in frustration.  
  
Taichi stared at him in surprise. ~Daisuke~ had actually...?  
  
The younger boy caught the look and his frown deepened. "What?"  
he demanded irritably. "I'm not ~stupid~, you know. I can come up with   
theories too."  
  
Grinning at his expression, Taichi held up his hands in   
self-defense. "Hey, did I say anything?"  
  
"I know what you're thinking," Daisuke muttered.  
  
"~Aaany~way," Taichi drawled in an attempt to get back on   
topic. "This attraction is solely with Ken, right?" At Daisuke's nod he   
continued, "Then I don't think you're gay. Why would that be so bad,   
anyway?"  
  
Daisuke hesitated before answering, "It's not that it be ~bad~,   
I guess... but...." He thumbed his nose and sniffed. "My dad isn't   
exactly the most understanding guy."  
  
"Ah. I see." Yet another silence fell between the two before   
Taichi sighed in exasperation and said, "Look, Daisuke, am I going to   
have physically prod everything out of you or are you just going to   
tell me why liking Ken is such a problem?"  
  
The boy's eyes grew rounder as his eyebrows merged with his   
hairline. "It's not a problem! .... Well, not really, anyway. I don't   
know," he muttered as he buried his face in his hands. "What should I   
do, senpai?"  
  
"Since I think we've established that you like Ken," Taichi   
answered dryly, "maybe you should think about what you want to come out  
of that." At Daisuke's quizzical look, he elaborated, "Do you want to   
tell him? Or do you want to bury it in denial?"  
  
"I... want to tell him, I think, but I don't know how."  
  
"Daisuke, with Ken, you can just come out and say it. ~Trust~   
me. He's ~not~ going to react badly."  
  
"Really?" The uncertain hope on his face was almost   
heartbreaking.  
  
"Yes, really! What, you don't trust me?" Taichi brought his   
hand to his heart in mock-affrontedness. "Have I ever lied to you,   
kiddo?"  
  
"Well..." Daisuke squinted suspiciously. "Not that I ~know~ of."  
  
"See? Completely trustworthy, ole Yagami Taichi." He winked and   
motioned for Daisuke to lean in closer. "In fact, just between you and   
me, I'm sure Ken'd be pretty happy to find out that you like-like him."  
  
Daisuke immediately perked up. "Really? Cool! That's great!" He  
paused, and favored Taichi with a sideways glance. "Are you ~sure~   
sure?"  
  
"For God's sake, Dai, yes!" Taichi laughed in exasperation as   
he pulled the boy off of the couch. "Now go over there and tell him   
before I have to tie you up and bring you there myself!" He gave   
Daisuke a playful shove toward the front door, but not before the other  
boy stuck out his tongue in a playful rebuke.  
  
As Taichi watched Daisuke tie his sneakers back on his feet, he   
asked curiously, "What brought all this on, anyway? It seems like you   
came here pretty suddenly."  
  
A slow, faint flush appeared over the bridge of the boy's nose.   
"Heh heh... funny thing, really." Standing, he rubbed the underside of   
his nose self-consciously and favored Taichi with a half-hearted smile.  
"This girl in my class confessed to me today.... I was so totally ~not~  
prepared for anything like that, so I kinda bungled turning her down,   
and then she started to cry, and then she started saying some   
things...." He shrugged slightly. "It just got me thinking. I got hit   
in the head twice today in practice because I was so distracted."  
  
Taichi chuckled and mock-cuffed the shorter boy. "Knocked some   
sense into you, I bet!"  
  
"Yeah!" Daisuke grinned broadly. "Thanks a lot, senpai."  
  
"No problem. Now get out of here before I have to hit you for   
real!"  
  
"Right!" With a laugh, Daisuke slipped out the door and began   
to sprint down the hallway.  
  
"Well!" Taichi exclaimed as the door shut behind his younger   
friend. "One down, one to go." The walk from the entryway to the   
bathroom was short, and luckily for its occupant, view into the small   
room was obscured from the front areas. As he crossed his arms and   
wedged his shoulder against the doorjamb, Taichi raised one eyebrow   
significantly at his other guest. "Can I take it that this answers the   
question you wanted to ask me?"  
  
Looking up from the towel he had twisted in his hands, Ken   
looked at him with bright eyes and a wide smile. "Yes, it does. Thank   
you very much, Yagami-san."  
  
Waving his hand in the air, he replied, "It was nothing."   
Literally -- he had barely gotten Ken into the bathroom and wrapped in   
a towel before Daisuke had appeared at his doorstep. "But what are   
sitting here for? If you hurry, you can corner him in the lobby."  
  
Ken hastily stood. "Thank you again," he bowed before taking   
off at a near-run to the apartment door and the hall beyond.  
  
Taichi chuckled as he watched the boy's retreating back and   
shook his head in amazement. "Those two are so in sync it's almost   
scary," he muttered to himself as he reluctantly made his way back to   
his textbooks. "The same day, practically the same minute, and the same   
problem. Creepy." Ken had confessed that he had sought out Taichi   
because he was the one who could understand Daisuke's mentality the   
best -- although Taichi wasn't sure that was necessarily a compliment   
-- and Daisuke had come because he couldn't talk to Ken and he needed   
his idol's advice. But he pushed thoughts of the two of them out of his   
mind, as he was certain that things would work out just fine, and   
turned his attention toward something that was not as pleasant as   
playing matchmaker.  
  
As he stood over his desk and glared at his book, hands on his   
hips, Taichi declared to the empty air, "I'm thinking that all these   
distractions are a sign from God. I clearly was not meant to study   
today." And with a self-satisfied smirk, he turned on his heel to make   
a phone call.  
  
"Hey, Yamato. You want to get something to eat?"  
  
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The End!  
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You may interpret the last sentence however you wish. ^__~ 


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